Best Practices for Steemit Newbie Artists by @merej99 - a 100% Power Up PoststeemCreated with Sketch.

Best Practices for Steemit Newbie Artists

Hey guys, Meredith Loughran here - and I want to share some best practices for Newbie Artists on Steemit.

First of all, you may be wondering who the hell I am and why's this any of my business? And that's a great question.

I have been online active building websites, participating in social media, message boards & chatrooms, and blogging since 1999. And while I don't have huge followings anywhere, there is one thing I do well - community engagement and advocacy. It's what I'm good at and something that I love.

And not to toot my own horn, but I consider myself to be one of the better solo, organic curators on the platform. I might be a minnow still, but I think like a whale.

So here are some Best Practices to get noticed, build your following, and stay out of trouble.

Don't just slap a picture up and call it a day

Stop the Wham, Bam, thank you Ma'am bullshit.

One of the things that drives me absolutely batshit crazy is trying to find original artists and Steemit newbies to support andthe only thing they post is a picture.

Seriously?! What the fuck is that?If I wanted to see pictures, I could flip through my photo album or search Google to my heart's content. Part of being a community advocate and curator is finding people willing to engage in the community.

Tell me a story...or something.

What prompted you to post?

What was your inspiration behind creating it?

Give me a nugget of humanity so I have a small window into who you are and whether I want to support and share your work!

Get Verified!

There are a few ways you can get verified. As a newbie, you've probably seen a bunch of Steemians with neat badges like this:

The other way is to create a footer template with links to your other social media sites.

And finally, you can do an Introduce Myself post.Many new users post a picture holding a sign with the date on it and tell us a little about yourself.

Why is this important?

A major part of this platform is building trust.

Everything is saved on the blockchainand there are several groups, witnesses, and active community members who want to keep Steemit legit - which meansyou have to be legit too.

FYI - a blockchain is a permanent ledger of all the goings on - from posts to comments to balance transfers and payouts. By being open sourced, anyone can look through our history. Our posts are also picked up by Google search, which is very important to us as individuals and Steemit as a platform.

Citations

Cite your work.

If you've originally posted your work somewhere on the internet, do your best to cite the original source when you repost it on Steemit.

It's not out to get you and tear you down, but it will become confused and blacklist you if you are flagged as a plagiarist.Yes, self-plagiarism exists and it is a huge problem.

By citing the original post/artwork, you will actually boost your search ranking because it backlinks to your other websites/blogs and recognizes you as an authority on the subject.

At the very least, make a statement somewhere on your blog post that the work was created by you.

Cite other people's work.

While we can be avid fans, it's doubly important to cite someone else's work!

If you see a picture or piece of art that inspires you -cite them as you share their products/creations.

There is a potential for legal action and hefty fines if someone really wants to come after you for infringement on their copyright.See DMCA

Use legitimate Public Domain and Creative Commons sharing sites.

I personally use Pixabay and Dreamstime for most of my non-original artwork; Giphy for animated gifs.

NEVER PULL PICS OFF GOOGLE SEARCH OR WIKIPEDIA

Just because they appear in search doesn't mean they are free to use images.

If you do a Google image search, click Search Tools; Usage Rights; Labeled for Reuse.Even then, visit the webpage of the image to double check that it is labeled Public Domain or Creative Commons with or without restrictions, which depends on whether the originator simply wants a link back for acknowledgement.

BUILD YOUR TRIBEusing the 3 C'sContent creation - Comments - Curation

I am going to keep typing this until my fingers bleed. If you're going to give yourself half a chance on Steemit, you need to build your tribe of supporters and followers.

Give us a reason to connect with you!

Content creation is only a small part of the process. Engage with people through upvoting (curating) and leaving comments.

If you've read about my 90 days on Steemit, you will know that I have NO EXPECTATIONS of earning.

Of course I want to make money here! If payment disappeared tomorrow I would be seriously disappointed. I might even go back to blogging on my own website. But I would seek out and follow my favorite artists and content creators elsewhere. That's because those people have left an impression on me, and I don't want to lose that.

Thank you for the helpful tips! I'm new, of coarse. Just had a question.. You stated that self-plagiarism is an issue... Wow.. New concept to me. So what if you have your works posted in multiple places already? Like, imagekind, facebook, twitter, instagram... type situation? Thanks again!

HI @shahee-w - great question. The consensus is reposting content from places like FB, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. etc. is grudgingly acceptable, especially if your intent is to put your content on the blockchain. You probably won't get stomped for that but it's always good policy to have a little disclaimer stating that you are reposting from XYZ.

The bigger no-no is reposting something you've already written on Steemit. Some people do it and justify it by saying they were new and didn't have the followers and therefore didn't earn anything.

I am a stickler with that. I say don't do it.
Perfect example: THIS POST. It's only made 76 cents and I get more volume on it now than I ever did 10 months ago. I'm not making any more money on this post. That sucks but that's the way things are right now. Again, if you're going to repost your own content, give people a heads-up. Be honest about it. Give them the opportunity to upvote you again or move along.

The downside of releasing the same posts (syndicating) them on your various social media touchpoints is you'll likely loose followers (since they'd get the same content on your Twitter/Facebook/Instagram feed).

I am a cartoonist and I sort of play it same as the comedians rule... Is my content fresh and new to my audience. If so, steem it. If it's already had a chance at your audience, don't make them see it twice. I want all my new works on the blockchain only from now on. I was never able to successfully distribute my comic over the web before steem!

I got a question if you do not mind... Whats the deal with the upvoting and posting? I do not get why we should upvote our own post when creating it? Any helpfull hints on this topic? I did 4 posts, 2 with upvoting and 2 without, so we will see where the train takes me I guess. LOL

Hi @inthenow - there are people on two sides of the self-voting issue. On one side, there are some who say those who self vote are gaming the system and draining the pool for their own benefit. On the other side, there are those who say if we take the time to create quality content why shouldn't we upvote our content?

So here's where I personally stand. I do upvote my posts. I never upvote my comments. As a new member, your vote strength is not going to be very strong and until you reach 1m vests all of your upvotes are defaulted to 100% strength. At this point in time it's really not a big deal as far as your account is concerned. Once you get your vote slider then you can adjust your vote strength per post and comment. I personally think it's a pain in the ass but since the last hardfork, may of us 100% upvoters had to adjust our voting patterns or our vote strength would be drained to nothing after 10 "super power" 100% votes.

Why does that matter to you? because dolphin and whale votes have the potential of being a very generous vote. In fact, when I first began, my comments were earning more STEEM & SBD than my posts!

The best advice I can give to you is this: Use a quarter of your Steemit time in creating and the other three-quarters of your time interacting with people. Build your tribe and following. Generously leave thoughtful comments. Interact. You will see your community (and earnings) grow. GOOD LUCK!

'Stop the Wham, Bam, thank you Ma'am bullshit.

One of the things that drives me absolutely batshit crazy is trying to find original artists and Steemit newbies to support and the only thing they post is a picture.'

As a Steem Trail art curator I look through the art posts everyday- Like a whole 24 hours of contents- every day (I'm in the middle of doing it now)! It will often be in the early hours after I have posted and really should be heading to bed- but I take my role as a curator seriously. It sounds harsh but if I can't see 100% that it's their work then I can't recommend it, I will often trawl through someones blog to do this. Crisp glossy images are nice to look at- but they don't help verify it's someones genuine artwork.
A strong image that shows up on the feed is also beneficial, if people are scanning through the feeds and eye catching image will make people stop and click quicker.

YES! It's so frustrating. And just recently an artist I had been following, even though they never verified, was nuked for plagiarism. I was so incredibly disappointed that it's made me really reconsider who I'm upvoting. I want to know there is substance and a real, honest-to-goodness person. I hate that I feel like I have to withhold my votes when I really like a piece because of this. It's a good point too, about making sure a good, crisp image shows up in the feed. Presentation plays a vital role too.

Thanks for your art curation! It does take serious effort -- especially for art because there is so much of it. I curate for Gardening and for Foraging, but there aren't near so many posts on those topics. The art category must be so much bigger.

@karenb54 - If you cannot use your own photos, I recommend pixabay.com. I believe Dreamstime has a subscription - It's been a while since I've used them. @thecryptofiend started an initiative called Steem4Free, where you'll have to search the tag #steem4free to see what other Steemians have shared. Unfortunately, I believe those messages disappear from our feed or search capability after 30 days. I may actually have to write another blog post about legitimate sites for images and music!

Thus far using steemimg.com has not worked for me. (I haven't gotten the varification code in the email. 🤔) I'm new to blogging. Having image sites (loading my own images for free is more what I want) and music will be helpful.

Good advice! I don't know how many times I've wanted to find new artists to support/upvote, but they only post a picture. That's not the point of the community and I can't support the lack of effort there even if the image is great. Hopefully we'll see more content alongside imagery here!

That's it exactly! The lack of effort is frustrating. I sincerely hope it's because they don't know any better, but sadly too many of them will quit because they don't generate a following or make any money...and then call it a scam.

ud is bright admire Miss @merej99 still has his work day never has a bad day are always excellent real Cadre a true example to follow. thank you very much for sharing brilliant post daily congratulations on their achievements and continued success

Thank you, @natek - I really hope a bunch of people see this. As you can see from the comments, the people who spend a good deal of time curating look for verified people and original content - partly because we've had the wool pulled over our eyes way too many times. You know that saying: Once bitten, Twice shy.

I don't think it will be necessary. A little bit of personal touch is always good. The page will go through a review period though. If any issues are brought up then, we'll have to make whatever changes are needed to get the page approved. I'll let you know if we need any updates.

That's it exactly I can look at pictures all day but from a curation or quality standpoint, not on Steemit. If they can't put in the time and make any kind of effort, I simply don't have time either. That's a cold hard truth, isn't it?

I would also look into http://steemimg.com/ which was developed by @blueorgy It's a place where you can upload your images and then use the link for your Steemit blog pages. It's a great solution especially if you don't have your own website or FTP. Good luck and don't hesitate yelling out for help if you're still having trouble.

Thank you Merej99 some very useful information. I'm brand new here and I intend to follow a lot of your advice. I believe if all of us look after this community, it will go from strength to strength. Also, from my experience, new users tend to follow the habits of more established users so we should all work hard to set an example.

Btw, I did follow your link to get verified but the site is offline at the moment. I will try again.

There is a huge potential for finding an amazing tribe. The honest to goodness piece of advice I can give is Just be authentic. Take some time to visit other people. Leave thoughtful comments.
Yeah, this post is over a year old. If you haven't done it yet, create an #IntroduceYourself post. One of the original ways we use to verify ourselves is by taking a selfie with the date and username somewhere on it. :) I'm really looking forward to seeing you grow here.

Great stimulant for creativ mind. And we must remember that some real things will happen. Great way to start my crypto.degree after all missed opportunities, acctually I am glad because I can start with this after big prove that crypto currencies can change the world, and we can create it in any our reality movement, integrated with creat community where we have a great people hungry for victories. They say: "On one lose you need to win 10 tlme to have a balance.", but how we are balanced, we constantly lose and small win we forgeth quickly. Here we give our best to be creative and to createsome.cash with this already old technology with great empowerment. The ideas hit me like a nuclear attack of what we miss in our lifes and how much advance we need to be.

Great post! Newbie...popping in! I think you covered everything my husband and I talked about. We saw someone only posting pic, we had a discussion on plagiarism, you know your stuff. You had me thinking...whoa this is harder than I thought. Ive noticed everyone definately has a niche. Thanks for the advice!

Thank you so much for sharing this information. Iam curious.. I'm a photographer and will definitely be using images I've shared on other platforms, possibly with new text. . When I do that, do i still need to source my image or will it be enough to say that the photo was taken by me?

This was a very helpful post. I am a newbie and I was completely oblivious as to how Steemit works. This is the first social community that I makes me feel some what obligated to participate in and remain active. Thank you!

Thank you for your time in helping us new to this adventure. Your straight-forward, no nonsense advise and guidance is very helpful!! Taking a first step today meant finding out more, and you are fulfilling that need for Steemit newbies. I can see I'm not alone in saying that. Some questions may follow but more reading first :)

Thank you, your advice is excellent. So much I'm new to, I'm a bit over my head, but loving it! I am still learning the details of the system, but that doesn't keep me from diving right in with posting. It's so interesting that you do not prefer (okay, vehemently oppose) just seeing images of art; I'm a conceptual artist and rabbithole researcher and have struggled with how to split my time between these two pursuits. Once I found Steemit as an "safe" posting site (not in the pay of the lettered agencies), I had the epiphany that my art flows out of my research and I can blog and paint at the same time, and share it here! So it's reassuring to know there are people like you out there that actually prefer that. It is deeply refreshing for me, since I am in a rural community of well-meaning church folks who are largely visually illiterate and rarely ask me anything about my work. Not that they'd get it, though, when I tell them I am exploring the relationships between the quantum communications network patterns in China tied to preparation of the asset-crypto takeover and the upcoming September 23rd astrological signs, all of which point to the coming mini ice age lol!

Hey there, also a newbie speaking. Just got my account confirmed and start reading through all the guides posted here.
Good advice, but anyway, I still need to get some more of those guides in my head to fully understand everything :)

Hi, I am a real newbie and still to finish my profile. I am familiarizing myself with the site and I like what you said. It is helpful. I am an artist and I agree that we should be posting more than a photo. A post that open a door to communication and interaction. That is what we are here for.
Quanta1